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book_n	church_n	old_a	testament_n	6,574	5	8.1314	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41816	The separation of the Church of Rome from the Church of England founded upon a selfish and unchristian interest. By a presbyter in the Diocess of Canterbury. Febr. 28. 1689/90. Imprimatur, Z. Isham, R.P.D. Henrico Episc. Lond à sacris.	Grascome, Samuel, 1641-1708?	1691 (1691)	Wing G1578A; ESTC R218847	114,589	226

of any Communion in the Christian World may safely joyn in it When any bring their particular Objections whether Romanists or Others they shall receive their Answers As for the Romanists I am apt to think that they would rather adde to it But because we think those to be such Matters as would corrupt it That must be Tried by the Examination of Particulars which is not the business of this place XLIII As for the Ways or Means of Coming to the Knowledge of the Catholicism of any Doctrine I know but two whereon the Ancients laid any Stress Scripture and Tradition The Sufficiency of the Scriptures as a Rule of Faith or that they contain all Matters in themselves necessary to Salvation we not only Maintain but further say That since God hath been pleas●d for the securing us from the scailtic of Mens Memories the M●●guidance of Mistakes the Cheat of Impos●ures and the like dangers to Cause his Will to be put in Writing and Compleat the Canon of Scripture The Scriptures are the only sure and infallible Rule of our Faith And whatsoever is fetch'd from those Fountains cannot but be O●thodox and Right Here is our sure Ancho-Hold and in this the Fathers go along with us Nobis saith Te●tu● de Praescrip Curiositate opus non est post Christ●●n Jes●m nec Inquisiti●ne post Evangelu●m And Salvi●n de Guber Dei lib. 3. p. 67. Si scire vis quid ●●nendum est habes Literas sacras Perfecta Ratio est hoc t●nere qu●d legeris He that Affects Citations may heap up enough to this purpose Nor doth it do the Romanists Cause any Service That many of their Authors speak so meanly and disgracefully of the Holy Scriptures for 〈…〉 do not well ●ear to Hear the Confessed Word of God 〈◊〉 ●re●ted And Mr. 〈◊〉 seems to Me to have been very imp●●dent in Entitling Part of his Answer to Dr. Tenison A Con●●tation of 〈◊〉 ●octors Rule of Faith for the Doctors Rule of Faith was no other then th● Scriptures And a Con●utation of them would of all others be the Work for a Christi●n If a difference Arise Who shall Interpret this R●le I Answer First That whosoever Interpreteth he is bound to his 〈◊〉 And it is not therefore the sense of the Rule because he saith it but he is therefore in the Right because he gives the true Meaning of it If he speak his own and not the Rules Meaning he doth not Interpret but deprave Secondly I Answer That if the Priests Lips ought to preserve Knowledge and the People to seek the Law at his Mouth then we have a Succession of Lawful Pastors duely Authorized who no more depend on the Romanists then the Romanists on them And so we stand seized of as good Authority to interpret Scripture as any they can justly pretend to And that we use it more duely and rightly may appear hence That we not only diligently use all lawful Means to come to the Knowledge of Truth but Condemn all those ill Arts which obscure or co●rupt it We have no Index Expurgatorius to Expunge or Alter any Passages in the primitive Fathers or any other honest Authors if they do not please us yet by this one base unpardonable Artifice the Romanists whilst they have been undermining the sufficiency of the Scriptures have shaken the Authority and weakned the Evidence of Tradition and so disarmed the Church of her best Weapons of Defence for certainly a Tradition is best proved by those who lived in or near those times when it was delivered But how shall we believe their Testimony when their Writings are daily Curtail'd Changed and Falsified at pleasure And had not that God who takes Care of his Church caused the Cheat to be discovered it would have done more Mischief then all the diligence and pains of all the Romanists in the World could ever have made a just satisfaction for But this it is for a particular Church to set up for Infallibility which is a point that can never be gained without putting out the Eyes of all at present living and stopping the Mouths of all that went before them For though I beleeve that God will never desert his Church in all parts of it in Matters necessary to Salvation yet he has not given her any Power over the Faith but She is Tied to that and that alone which was at first delivered to the Saints And if the Roman or any other Church or an Angel from Heaven should teach any other doctrine then what we have received they ought to be so far from being regarded that if we follow St. Paul they ought to be Accursed That we Adhere to the Scriptures the Romanists cannot justly blame us because they themselves Acknowledge their divine Authority For see the Council of Trent doth Sess 4. decret de Caen Script ' but they accuse us as too strict Scripturists upon two Accounts First because we Admit not Tradition to be of equal Authority with the Holy Scriptures Secondly because we receive not several Books as Canonical or of unquestionable divine Authority which they have thrust into the Canon As for Tradition and its Authority I shall Treat of it more distinctly in the next Paragraph and there answer this Accusation As for the Canon of Scripture we own the very same and no other which the Church of God hath Handed down to us after the Canon of Scripture was Compleated As for those Books Called Apocrypha which the Council of Trent first made Canonical it is Apparent That we do not by that Title utterly Condemn them but rather Repute them of an Inferiour or Ecclesiastical Authority because we Read them in our Churches for Instruction of Manners and inciting to good Living And sometimes use them for the Illustration of Doctrine but never to Introduce or Found any Doctrine upon and this is as much as the Ancients allowed them The Jewish Church was the Keeper and Preserver of the Canon of the Old Testament as much as the Christian is of the Old and New now But they had none of those Books in their Canon And therefore if any Assert that those Books do belong to the Canon the Consequence will be That the Jewish Church did not preserve the Canon of Scripture entire and true and for the same Reason any one may suspect the Christian and so render the Authority of the whole dubious So injurious are the Romanists to the Faith it self whilest they set up their own Authority against the whole Church of God Besides if they will not own that we received the entire Canon of the Old Testament from the Jewish Church they ought to tell us from whom we did receive it and to whose Custody it was Committed till the time of Christ and his Apostles But whoever will be at the pains to read the Scholastical History of the Canon of Scripture Written by our Learned Dr. Cosins Bishop of Duresme will be abundantly satisfied that the

Skill enough to Condemn others but not to know themselves and they can tell you what they are not but not what they are Now a purely Negative Religion at best is next to no Religion if it be any at all Now though this be not the fault of those Authors who are bound to follow their Adversaries Step● but of those Men who will only Busie themselves in such Authors yet wh●n my Method and Matter was wholly at my own Choice and in my own power I could not think my self excuseable if I should proceed only in a destructive way And therefore in reference to the Parts which are to follow I did propound to my self to state the Case between us in each particular to set down positively what we do Hold or can Allow And then to Enquire into the Reasons of the Controversie both pretended and real for that Method I take to be best which leaves Men not at a Loss for Right whilest it fortifies them against the Wrong When in the late great Ferment of the Nation Controversial Pieces flew so thick about this First Part was then ready for the Press but for a very Justifiable Reason then laid Aside Whether ever I shall be able to Finish the other Two Parts which must Consist of Particulars relating to the Doctrine and Government of the Church God only knows For in Order thereunto I must have Expended more Money then my mean Fortune will well bear to purchase some Books which I have not by Me But now by reason that I cannot Walk the same pace which so many Men do I fear I shall be Necessitated in a short time to Sell those ●ew Books I have to Buy my Children Bread And in such a Condition a Man can have little Stomack and less Opportunity or Leisure to Write Controversies However I think this may be sufficient amongst all sober Men to Vindicate Me from the Slanders of some Black Mouth'd Persons who Give a Reputation to the Roman Religion by Representing all us Papists or which we find by Experience is worse as Reputed Papists or Popishly affected who will not run into the same Excess of Riot with themselves I pray God give them more Grace and Sobriety then to proceed in such Courses and Me more Patience under such unjust Reproaches But my Comfort is this that my Share is inconsiderable in respect os my Great Master's or his true Follower St Paul who underwent the full Trial of all those things whereby he Teacheth us to Approve our Selves Ministers of God amongst which I think I have some peculiar Interest in these i. e. To have done it by honour and dishonour by evil report and good report as a deceiver and yet true 2 Cor. 6. 8. I never thought that Controversies were to be written for Controversies sake but rather what in us lay to put an End to them And I should not think my self unfortunate under all the Calumnies and Sufferings in the World if I could be in the least Instrumental to Advance the Sincerity of Religion and Promote the Peace of Gods Church But if I may not be Capable of Endeavouring it to any purpose I will never cease to pray for it And therein I doubt not to have the Concurrence of all good Men whatsoever otherwise may be their Perswasions And thus Protesting my Integrity before God and freely leaving my self to the Censure of all Men. I am Yours in all Christian Offices S. G. THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. Of Obligations to Unity among Christians 1. REasons of the Enquirie 2. Obligations from the Nature of the Christian Religion 3. From Christians Considered as a Body with Remarks thereon 4. An Objection Answered 5. From the Honour of the Christian Religion 6. From express Precepts of the Gospel 7. From the Rewards of Preserving and Punishments of the Breach of Vnity 8 From the Encouragements Helps and Succours to Attain it CHAP. II. Wherein this Unity Consists 1. Mistakes concerning Vnity and the Reason thereof 2. A Caveat against the Plea of extraordinary Cases 3. The first Step towards or the Foundation of this Vnity 4. That our Vnity must be suitable to our state what that is and that it must be in the visible Church 5. An Inference thence 6. In Respect of our State-Vnion with the invisible Catholick Church by Vnion with the visible Catholick Church and Vnion with the visible Catholick Church by Vnion with some true Part of it i. e. a particular Church 7. That Admission into all Societies is by some known Ceremony or sormal Way of Proceedings this in the Christian Society is Baptism Reflections on the Anabaptists 8. That Admission into a S●ciety implies Submission to the Rules of the Society and an Obligation to the Duties thereof and to whom these have Regard in the Christian Society 9. Duties of particular Christians towards each other 10. Tbat Duties of particular Christians must be Practised in Conjunction with Duties Relating to Worship and Communion 11. Communion though of necessity it be in particular Churches yet thereby it is in and with the Catholick Church 12. Communion in Worship supposeth a Necessity of Communion with lawful Pastors which is further Proved by several Arguments and Instances 13. That the Pastors ought also to maintain Communion with each other and the Nature thereof or by what means it is maintained briesly Examined 14. An Objection Answered and what is the Duty of particular Persons in such Case declared CHAP. III. Of the Nature of Schism 1. What hath inclined Men to maintain ill Principles and particularly Schism 2. The General Notion of Schism 3. 4. 5. Several Separations which are not Schism 6 The distinguishing Note of Schism and an Inference thence 7. 8. 9. Several Ways whence Schism Ariseth 10. What Schism is sinful with a Definition thereof 11. The Authors Acknowledgment and the Assertion in Relation to the Controversie which he undertakes to prove and his Request CHAP. IV. Of the Liberties and Priviledges of the Britannick Churches and of the Actual Separation 1. Two General Objections against our whole Cause and a General Exception against both 2. The first Objection Consists of two Branches whereof the first at present put off the latter Proposed to be Examined 3. The Title of Patriarch at this time set up as a Sham Device 4. Granting a Patriarchate to the Pope it is denied to Extend to the Britannick Churches 5. How Patriarchates came in and that they possessed no● all Places 6. 7. The Bisbop of Rome not possessed of any such Jurisdiction in these Isles but after Patriarchates were set up 8. Britain a Church before Rome and Reasons of the different Observation of Easter both in them and other Churches 9. The Reasons of the Britons mistake as to Easter such as ought not to have made a Breach and that they were not Quartodecimani 10. Augustines Mission and Helps for the Work That the Kentish Saxons were before Prepared for Embracing the Gospel how He and the